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Police officers stand on alert as protesters gather outside the headquarters of Poland’s Constitutional Court in Warsaw after police blocked access to the building on October 30, 2026. (Wojtek RADWANSKI/AFP)

Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki called off a visit to Africa mid-flight and returned to Warsaw, where police surrounded the constitutional court on Friday after the suspension of its chief justice triggered a standoff between the centrist government and the nationalist right.

Dozens of police guarded the entrance to the court as followers of the opposition right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) protested the ousting of constitutional court president Bogdan Swieczkowski.

The court’s official X social media account said there had been a “coup d’etat” and some demonstrators chanted “Tusk traitor” as they condemned the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

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Promoted: Z3 2026

Some tried to force their way through security barricades.…